


You're the Gift (That's Made All Of My Dreams Come True)

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: 25 Days of Damerey [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 25 Days of Damerey, Canon Universe, Co-workers, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Life day, Post-TLJ, flangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 15:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16875783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: Poe Dameron volunteers to keep watch over Central Command while the rest of the Resistance celebrates Life Day.His boring night becomes a bit more interesting when the resident Jedi decides to hang out with him.





	You're the Gift (That's Made All Of My Dreams Come True)

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the tumblr prompt: Character A and Character B are co-workers, but they barely know each other. But they both have to work through the holidays.
> 
> I took out the part where they barely know each other b/c the Resistance is so small, they probably know each other by now!
> 
>  
> 
> ! short and breezy tonight!

 

Poe walked towards Command, pants freshly pressed, and medals polished and shining on his brown officer’s jacket. His spine was straight and gait controlled, his face aloof but jaw set strongly. Appearances were everything. After all, he had a role to play:

Colonel Dameron, Leia Organa’s trusted mentee, and (formerly) best pilot in the Resistance.

Several recruits snapped to attention, even dressed down as they were, hands pressed firmly to foreheads to salute him. Poe nodded, lips twitching, and murmured a response to their seasonal greetings. He passed the mess hall, where music was blaring and people roaring with laughter, and down the hall, the opposite direction from where he was headed, he knew the hangar would be twice as loud, and twice as merry.

Outside the base, Chewie and Snap were finishing the decorations for the official ceremonies and memorials, and within a few hours, the party would head outside to celebrate Life Day in style.

And Poe would be inside, alone, manning the Command Center, on the off-chance that a friendly would chime in on the comms, looking for a spark of hope in an increasingly hopeless galaxy.

The doors to Command hissed open, and Poe walked in. The second the doors hissed shut, he heaved a sigh, grabbed his hat and chucked it on a free seat; next came the top buttons of his jacket, slightly choking him. He undid them with one hand as he walked to the main comms station and typed in his access codes. Then, he settled into a chair, popped his feet up on the console, and waited.

And waited.

Even through durasteel, he swore he could hear laughter floating down the hallway, and he tried not to feel bitter about it - he actually, honestly was glad to be here because it meant that everyone else was getting a chance to unwind. The months following Crait had been grueling, utterly brutal, taxing morale and banishing smiles from every face. While the Resistance had grown in numbers, it still was a tough ride, with tough odds, as the First Order continued their regime of terror under their new Darth Dickhead leadership.

He’d been sitting there, slightly bored out of his mind, only slightly, when the back of his neck prickled. Poe turned around, his feet slamming into the floor, just as the doors hissed open, and an unexpected figure walked in.

“Hey there, Colonel.”

Rey from Jakku, the resident Jedi, strolled in, the skirt of her tunic pulled up in her hands, making a kind of basket from the fabric. Her lean, long legs were encased in leggings as always (but Poe didn’t spend a lot of time looking at her legs because that would be _weird_ no matter how _long_ and _lean_ and _muscular_ they were, no matter how he swore that they’d feel perfect and soft under his hands, against his own legs, around his-), but her hair looked different.

Poe squinted and then blushed - he recognized the braids almost automatically.

“Hey, Commander. Did Leia, uh-?” He gestured to his head to finish his point.

“Hm?” Rey walked forward, her head tilted, and then she smiled. “Oh, right! Yes, Leia braided my hair for me this morning!”

“She’s feeling better then?” Poe asked, attempting to keep a straight face and failing. Leia wouldn’t be at the Life Day celebrations today; the older woman was relying more and more on her cane, and after a report on Kylo Ren’s most recent savagery, a series of executions (of men, women, and children alike) on a Core World, she’d fallen ill. Leia hadn’t emerged from bed in almost two days, and Rey had been her constant companion.

(Poe had hovered near the door, feeling eight years old again. Leia had always been like a mother to him. It felt too similar. It felt too kriffing -)

“She’s…” Rey shook her head, her smile entirely faded by then. “Her heart is sick. And...I’m not sure how to fix that.”

“Me either.” Poe looked up at Rey, and was disappointed to see her staring off into space, her hazel eyes wide and miserable. “So, what brings you to Command, Jedi?”

“Oh!” Her smile was back, and she turned it on him, and Poe pretended not to melt inside. “Well, I heard you were up here, and I couldn’t very well let you sit up here by yourself all night.”

“Aw, shucks, Sunshine.” Poe smiled and stood, stretching out his back. “You don’t have to worry about me. I volunteered for this gig, so you all could celebrate.” He frowned at a thought. “Why aren’t you down there?”

Rey shrugged. “I’ve never celebrated Life Day before. I did something with Chewbacca earlier, where we talked about his ancestors and I meditated and thought about all of the brave Wookiees who came before him, but,” - she shrugged again - “Like I said, I heard you were up here alone, and I wanted you to have company.”

“Jeez.” Poe rubbed his neck and smiled down towards his boots, where it was safest to look. “You didn’t have to do that”

“I wanted to do it.”

Poe blushed, and he could feel the warmth racing down his neck.

“Oh! Also, I stole some snacks.” Rey walked to the center console and unceremoniously dumped the contents of her improvised tunic-basket out onto it.

“Careful, Sunshine, that’s our battle map.” Poe laughed and then leaned over to marvel at her haul. He whistled low and long. “Damn, Jedi, how many Koyos did you steal?”

“Seven.” Rey beamed at him, and he realized her front teeth were stained purple. She caught him staring, and her grin shifted to something more ornery. “Alright, so, eight, but I already ate one. You got me.” Poe laughed again at that, and poked Rey gently in the arm. His fingers lingered longer than they should have, and both of their laughter quieted, almost thoughtfully, at the contact.

Their eyes returned to the map, but Poe kept peeking at Rey from the corner of his vision. She was tucking her hair behind her ear, her fingers close to her crimson red cheek as she smiled privately. “Well, thanks,” Poe said after he’d pretended to admire her stealings for a few moments longer. “I really appreciate the company, sweetheart.” He paused for a moment, and let the endearment sink in - he had debated using it, but now that it was out there, he didn’t much feel like taking it back - as he watched her face. “...And the food, of course.”

“Yeah,” Rey bit her lip and returned his gaze steadily, her cheeks still pink, but her eyes twinkling. “No problem, flyboy.”

“Wanna eat some of this stuff?” Poe asked, already snagging a Koyo melon and rolling it between his hands. Rey nodded eagerly, and they divvied up the fruit and cakes, settling into chairs near each other.

Soon, both of their feet were propped up on the console as they studied the console, waiting for any sign of life. Rey’s legs kept fidgeting - she, like Poe, could never sit still - and eventually, her foot knocked into his.

“Sorry,” she squeaked, sweetbread frozen en route to her pink lips. Poe tried not to stare at those, either.

“Apology accepted.” He knocked his foot back into hers. Rey giggled and kicked him back, half-heartedly, and soon their feet were on the floor, scuffling around each other like mad. Rey played dirty, of course, her feet pinning his down as she roared with laughter and claimed victory, so Poe did the only thing he could.

He leaned forward and gripped the arms of her chair - for a breathless moment, he looked up and caught Rey staring at him, her eyes wide, pupils blown, cheeks red, and lips parted, and he swallowed, hard, against the sudden urge to …

“Gotcha,” he crowed, shoving hard. Rey flew backwards on the wheeled chair, and she half-screamed, spinning slightly as she came to a stop some dozen feet away from him.

“Cheater!” She accused, lighthearted laughter still bubbling out from her. Rey’s feet tripped over the floor as she rapidly scooted towards him. “You utter, complete-”

Poe dodged her attack effectively, planting his foot on the side of the console and shoving himself backwards, away from Rey’s outstretched hands. She shrieked with laughter when he came barrelling back towards her in a maneuver that would have had BB-8 screaming obscenities at him from the backseat of Black Leader.

Rey threatened to use the Force on him - not that he thought she actually would because that would mean she forfeited any real claim to winning the competition - at least half a dozen times as they chased each other around Central, giggling and shoving one another under the sparkling Life Day decorations.

Eventually, after Rey had caught Poe, and Poe had caught Rey, and Rey had caught Poe once more, Poe daringly launched himself at his adversary, and managed to snag her chair by the arm, pulling her in abruptly to him. Their seats glanced off of each other, but Poe stubbornly kept his hands on the arms of her chair to keep her near.

“Like I said,” he laughed, his cheeks aching from smiling this much (he couldn’t remember ever smiling this much). “I got you!”

“You did,” Rey agreed, her lips still stretched out in a smile, but her beautiful eyes somewhat more solemn than he expected. “You really did.”

They were close once more, and Poe felt a swooping in his stomach that he’d always reserved for flight, for barrel-rolling off the surface of an unknown planet towards a binary sunset. Rey dazzled him more than any solar system ever could, and she was right here, and she’d chosen to spend this time with him.

“Thank you,” Poe said more quietly, his eyes trained on hers. Rey looked down for a second, the tips of her ears turning pink, but then she looked back at him. “This would have been a pretty lousy night without you.”

“Yeah, well.” Rey tucked her hair behind her ear again, and Poe wished fervently that he’d been the one to do that. “A lot of things would be lousy without you, you know?” Poe opened his mouth to argue with her - he’d almost single-handedly lost the war after all, let Kylo Ren into his brain and ruined Rey’s life by sending that tyrant to Jakku, he was the one who had failed so many of his friends - but Rey laid a skinny finger across his lips, just for a moment, but long enough for him to feel the warmth echoing through his body.

“Life Day is about spending time with people you love,” Rey said carefully, her eyes darting around his face, and then the room as she rolled back slightly. Her hands folded nervously in her lap. “So I’m pretty sure I made the right call.”

Rey rolled back to the comms, the back of her neck bright red, and Poe found his voice through his shock.

“Happy Life Day, sweetheart.” He cleared his throat and stood up from his chair, but Rey didn’t turn around, too busy typing something into the hourly report using her own access codes. “And...Rey… as far as...everything goes, I feel like I should say-”

Rey half-turned, and smiled at him over her shoulder. “I know.” She returned to typing, and Poe nodded, a smile fighting to break free across his face once more, the warmth in his gut undeniable and spreading rapidly throughout his system.

A very happy Life Day.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> (I'll be posting a Commander Dameron smutty Christmas mini-chapter later!)
> 
> hope you're not too bored of 25 Days of Damerey yet (because there are 19 days to go....)


End file.
